Gabby Mercer tripped up by social media Darwinism
On Sunday night, Republican CD3 congressional candidate Gabriela Saucedo Mercer posted a snide comment on her Facebook page, comparing food stamp recipients to animals:
A lesson in irony.
The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is actually proud of the fact it is distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever.
Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us to "Please Do Not Feed the Animals." Their stated reason for the policy is because the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves.
This ends today's lesson
While more than 80 of her base "liked" the comment—which had been circulating on Facebook for days prior to Mercer's copy/paste of it — before long scores of Arizonans and others expressed their anger, contempt and disdain for Mercer in comments under the post.
And not long after that, Mercer had taken the post down, apparently deciding that Arizona voters are not yet ready for her brand of compassionless conservatism.
Roberto De Vido is a communications consultant, writer, cartoonist and jack of many trades. The former chief of Tucson Sentinel’s East Asia Bureau, he now lives in California (make of that what you will).
“A lesson in irony.”
— The heading of Gabby Mercer's Facebook post about food stamp recipients, in which she likened them to animals.
